With over 10 trillion euros sitting in European bank accounts — roughly half of it earning little to no interest — the question of how ordinary savers can access meaningfully higher deposit rates has rarely been more relevant. In this episode of the Bondfish Human Finance Podcast, host Renat Dovidenko, CFA, CQF, CDO and co-founder of Bondfish, is joined by Alexander Gromov, founder and CEO of Pick the Bank, a pan-European deposit comparison and origination platform founded in Cyprus in 2022. The conversation explores why European savings rates remain so fragmented across borders, how retail investors can navigate cross-border deposit markets, and where bank deposits fit within a broader, goal-based fixed income strategy.
The Opportunity
Alexander Gromov opened the discussion by mapping the scale and inefficiency of European household savings. European Central Bank statistics, he noted, show that households alone have accumulated more than 10 trillion euros in bank deposits — a figure that excludes retirement and investment accounts. Yet roughly half of that sum sits in overnight or demand accounts earning virtually no return. The implication is striking: approximately 5 trillion euros of European household savings is generating close to zero interest for its owners.
The story differs sharply from one country to the next. Western European savers — notably in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Ireland — hold significantly more per capita than their counterparts in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, where savings per capita can be several times lower. But paradoxically, it is often the Eastern European and Baltic banking markets that offer the highest deposit rates. Gromov explained that this is a direct consequence of liquidity dynamics: in markets where loan demand outstrips the available pool of household savings, banks must compete aggressively for depositors, pushing offered rates higher.
“In the western markets, banks simply don't need your money — they have it. In the Baltics, the opposite is true, and rates reflect that.
— Alexander Gromov, Founder & CEO, Pick the Bank
The rate cycle itself has been dramatic. Following a decade of near-zero interest rates, the ECB's successive rate hikes from 2022 onward drove the top one-year fixed deposit rates offered by European banks to as high as 5%, primarily from Italian and Baltic institutions. By mid-2025 the top market rate had settled in the 2.6–2.8% range, and Gromov anticipated that rates would remain broadly stable at around 2–2.5% through 2026, absent any material macroeconomic shocks.
Market Context
Despite the European Union's single market framework — which formally allows any bank licensed in one member state to offer services across the bloc — the practical reality is one of deep fragmentation. Gromov was candid about why: the cost and complexity of cross-border market entry remain prohibitive for most banks. Localising a website, on-boarding interface, customer communications, and support function into a new language and regulatory context requires substantial investment. Building brand awareness in an unfamiliar market adds further barriers. As a result, most banks rationally focus on their domestic market, leaving savers in low-rate jurisdictions without easy access to higher-yielding products elsewhere.
The friction is real and immediate for individuals. A Dutch or Belgian saver seeking to open an account with a competitive Italian or Lithuanian bank may encounter requirements for a local tax identification number, a domestic phone number, or an on-boarding journey entirely in a foreign language. Pick the Bank's model addresses precisely this gap: the platform acts as a service layer between banks and savers, handling multilingual on-boarding, customer support, and deposit management on behalf of partner banks, while giving savers across Europe access to a wider range of products through a single application.
Gromov also drew a distinction between reasons for rate discrepancies that should and should not concern savers. Banks in growth phases may offer above-average rates simply because they need to fund an expanding loan book — a benign explanation. However, he cautioned that an individual investor cannot easily distinguish between a bank competing healthily for deposits and one managing a liquidity stress event. The practical guidance was clear.
Practical Application
For European retail investors considering cross-border deposits, the episode surfaced a coherent set of decision criteria spanning product selection, regulatory protection, and tax compliance.
Deposit Guarantee Scheme fundamentals. Gromov outlined the EU's standardised deposit guarantee framework, which protects deposits of up to 100,000 euros per individual per bank across all member states. The coverage applies regardless of the currency in which the deposit is held, and regardless of whether the deposit was opened directly with the bank or through an intermediary platform. Critically, the 100,000 euro limit is per bank, not per account or per platform — savers who hold multiple deposits with the same underlying bank through different intermediaries are still subject to a single 100,000 euro cap across all those deposits combined.
Respect the per-bank protection cap. Never hold more than 100,000 euros with any single bank, regardless of how many accounts or intermediaries are involved. Diversify across institutions, not just platforms.
Check for withholding tax in the bank's country. Some jurisdictions deduct tax on interest at source before it reaches the depositor. In others — Malta being an example highlighted by Gromov — interest is paid out in full and the saver declares income only in their country of residence.
Understand your home-country tax obligations. Interest income from foreign deposits is typically reportable in the saver's country of tax residence. Where withholding tax has already been deducted abroad, it can usually be credited against the domestic tax liability — but this requires accurate documentation and declaration.
Seek professional tax advice for complex situations. Cross-border multi-currency deposits can generate nuanced reporting obligations. Gromov recommended that savers with significant cross-border holdings consult a qualified tax adviser rather than rely on general guidance.
Use comparison tools to benchmark the market. With over 1,000 banks across 25 European countries now tracked by platforms such as Pick the Bank, meaningful rate discovery is available to any individual willing to look beyond their domestic bank.
On the question of which markets currently offer the most accessible cross-border deposit experience, Gromov highlighted Malta as a particularly transparent jurisdiction: no withholding tax, competitive rates across maturities from three months to five years, and deposit products available in euros, US dollars, and British pounds. Baltic banks — particularly in Latvia and Lithuania — were noted as offering some of the highest rates in the European market, with Pick the Bank preparing to launch partnerships in those markets.
“The deposit guarantee protection is quite straightforward — but the key thing people miss is that the limit applies per bank, not per intermediary. One hundred thousand, one bank, one person: that is the rule.
— Alexander Gromov, Founder & CEO, Pick the Bank
Fixed Income Strategy
The later part of the conversation widened the lens from deposits to fixed income investing more broadly, with Renat Dovidenko drawing a comparison between bank deposits and bond market instruments — including government and corporate bonds, money market ETFs, and alternative higher-yield products. Gromov offered a clear risk-spectrum framing: deposits sit at the conservative end, backed by the deposit guarantee and offering certainty of return; bonds introduce credit risk and interest rate risk, but in exchange offer a richer opportunity set across geographies, durations, and yield levels; higher-risk alternatives such as crowdfunding loan platforms or real estate lending carry materially greater risk but have historically attracted attention during low-rate environments when deposit yields are insufficient to satisfy investors.
Both participants converged on the view that the appropriate allocation between these instruments is not universal but deeply personal — determined by the investor's time horizon, risk tolerance, specific financial goals, and life stage. Younger investors with decades until retirement can tolerate greater equity and risk exposure; those approaching retirement should progressively de-risk toward fixed deposits, low-risk bonds, and money market products. Goal-based thinking provides a practical organising framework: the allocation for a liquidity cushion (funds needed within months) differs fundamentally from that appropriate for a three-year house purchase target, which differs again from long-horizon retirement savings.
“Whatever the case, savings of individuals will remain one of the key pillars of the financial system. You cannot simply replace 10 trillion euros — the rates will always be higher in some banks and lower in others.
— Alexander Gromov, Founder & CEO, Pick the Bank
Dovidenko noted that Bondfish and Pick the Bank occupy complementary positions in this landscape — one focused on fixed income securities and bond market data, the other on deposit comparison and origination — and that both platforms are oriented toward the same underlying goal: improving market transparency and accessibility for the individual European investor.
Summary